This manual has been prepared as a guide to the Information Network Service, the interlibrary loan system of the Long Island Library Resources Council (LILRC).

The manual contains a description of how the location and delivery service works and the policy on which it is based, as well as standards to which it is expected participating libraries will adhere.

Please do not hesitate to make suggestions and comments regarding this manual and the interlibrary loan service to the Council office.

January 1976

INTERLIBRARY LOAN POLICIES AND PROCEDURES

Our interlibrary loan program is based on the premise that lending among libraries for the benefit of individuals in Nassau and Suffolk counties is in the public interest and should be encouraged. It is impossible for any one library to be self-sufficient, and interlibrary borrowing and lending is regarded by the libraries participating in this program as essential to library service.

It is the policy of the Council that the routines of borrowing and lending are simplified as much as possible consistent with the protection of material. Every effort is made to emphasize speed and to base the service on a spirit of cooperation and trust among participating libraries.

What follows comprise the procedures and standards that have developed gradually and voluntarily in our area—this is what works for us. Changes may be introduced as the need arises.

What may be borrowed

It is recognized that interlibrary borrowing does not relieve any library of the responsibility for developing its own collection. Each library should provide the bulk of materials needed by its users for purposes of study, instruction, information and research.

The borrowing library should make every effort to exhaust its own resources before turning to interlibrary loan. It should also screen requests carefully before transmitting them to the Council, eliminating those which common sense indicates would not be supplied.

The borrowing library is responsible for returning loans promptly and in good condition. The borrowing library should respond quickly to overdue notices and is responsible for paying fees for lost books as levied by the lending library. The library should refuse to request books on interlibrary loan on behalf of borrowers who abuse the privilege.

Placing requests

Our network is part of an hierarchical system. Requests we cannot locate in the region we send to the New York State Interlibrary Loan Network (NYSILL) which searches the State Library in Albany and selected referral libraries in the State. The key to the success of NYSILL is that it is asked only for materials not available locally. The network would break down if the major libraries were asked to supply commonly held materials. Medically oriented requests not found on Long Island are transmitted to the Regional Medical Library interlibrary loan network in Brooklyn.

Public libraries submit their requests through their respective library systems, which process the requests through LILRC, NYSILL, or other channels.

All other libraries in the region should submit their requests to LILRC. Most libraries prefer to have local requests handled centrally, and decline to fill regional requests unless they have been transmitted by the Council. In special circumstances, libraries may arrange to deal directly with each other.

Form of requests

Borrowing libraries may find it helpful to develop worksheets (see samples in Appendix B) to be used by the reader and the librarian in preparing the interlibrary loan request, indicating all the items we need to know.

Requests may be submitted on LILRC interlibrary loan forms which we supply, and sent in by mail or by our driver. They may be placed by teletype, using a format based on the LILRC request form. Urgent requests may be placed by telephone.

We ask that you fill out the form as completely and as accurately as possible, including author's full first name. Supply all the information you have been able to elicit from your patron, as well as all you have been able to glean from bibliographic sources to complete the request. The more information you give us the more likely we are to locate the material you need—and the more quickly.

Try to develop techniques for drawing from your reader as much as he knows about the item he is seeking and the source of the citation. He must have some reason for believing the item exists, and we should be able to pass this information on to the potential lending library.

Verification

Check as far as possible to verify the accuracy of the information the reader gives you. We trust that you will verify citations as completely and as accurately as your resources will allow.

The ALA and NYSILL manuals (see Appendix A) both contain a listing of standard bibliographic tools and sources of verification. Verification sources not found in the standard lists should be cited in full. Remember that reference tools and abbreviations familiar to you may not be known to the librarian trying to fill the request. Please give full citation of the source of verification, including date, volume, series, and the page on which verification was found. That is, not just "NUC," but "NUC, 1968-72, 25:478." In a request for a periodical article, both the title of the periodical and the location of the article should be verified, and both sources of verification should be given.

If you cannot verify the item in a standard bibliographic tool, please supply a complete citation to the source of reference, including author's full name, publisher, date, and page of citation.

When libraries are unable to verify requests completely because their bibliographic resources and staff are severely limited, we will try to verify the information and to locate the item. If a request is hopelessly inadequate, with vital information missing or with incomprehensible abbreviations, we will return it for clarification.

OCLC verification

Please use caution when citing OCLC numbers as verification for interlibrary loan requests. The Council office and most of the libraries in our region do not have OCLC terminals. Include OCLC #, author and title, place, publisher and date, and Nassau-Suffolk and NYSILL locations where given. Be sure all information has been copied correctly.

Data base verification

If an item is requested on the basis of a citation on a computer printout, supply all information given and be sure to indicate which data base was used, such as ERIC, Psych Abstracts, Compendex, BIOSIS, etc.

Photocopying

The lending library may choose to supply photocopies of articles in lieu of lending whole issues or volumes of serials. By mutual agreement, libraries in our region generally absorb the costs of photocopying articles, although there may be a charge for longer articles. Libraries have usually found that by photocopying for each other without charge they come out reasonably even and avoid the expense and trouble of accounting and billing procedures.

Expenses

LILRC along among the 3R's Councils in the State has chosen to maintain a low membership fee which is the same for all libraries. Our income is supplemented by a system of charges and credits for completed interlibrary loan transactions, so that libraries pay in proportion to the use they make of our service. These charges are not related to the cost of the service.

The borrowing library is charged a fee for each item it obtains through LILRC. The lending library receives a credit (presently $1.00) equal to one-half the charge (presently $2.00) for each item it supplies. Libraries with collections from which we borrow heavily, paying for teletype machines to receive our requests, may be given additional credit if replies are transmitted promptly.

DIRECT ACCESS TO OTHER LIBRARIES

Both the Nassau Library System and the Suffolk Cooperative Library System have policies of direct access, including borrowing privileges, among the public libraries within their respective counties. A reader may find another library convenient; remind him to check with his local public library for details.

Other alternatives to interlibrary loan include:

Location service

It may be more practical for some readers to use books and periodicals at the library which holds them rather than request them on interlibrary loan. For periodicals, you may refer readers on the basis of the Nassau-Suffolk Union List of Serials. Please check the list of participating libraries in the front of volume 1 which notes some limitations of public access to materials in certain libraries.

For monographs, call LILRC and ask for a check of a few libraries in the microfilms of card catalogs to get locations for needed items.

Research Loan Program

Through this program, patrons of participating libraries have direct access, including circulation privileges, to specific subject area collections in other participating libraries. In lieu of numerous interlibrary loan requests, libraries may wish to recommend their readers take advantage of this program. The latest LILRC membership list indicates libraries which have joined this program. Details are available in all participating libraries and from LILRC.

INFORMATION NETWORK SERVICE-How it works

Requests are received daily from participating libraries by teletype and on LILRC interlibrary loan forms by mail and delivery service. A limited number of urgent requests may be received by telephone. All requests are transcribed onto LILRC request forms if they have not arrived on that form.

All requests are checked to make sure that all necessary bibliographic information has been given. If a glaring error or omission can be corrected easily, the INS clerk will do so and process the request. If the error is not easily corrected, the request is returned to the requesting library for clarification.

When a monograph request is received, the clerk checks the appropriate catalogs in the data bank of library card catalogs in microfilm in the LILRC office (or calls libraries for materials not listed in the catalogs). For serials the clerk checks the Nassau-Suffolk Union List of Serials and other tools. When an item is located, the clerk calls, teletypes a message, or sends a copy of the request to the prospective lender to see if the item is actually available.

The INS staff tries to maintain a balance between locating the needed items most efficiently and at the same time spreading the load so that the larger libraries are not overburdened with requests and so that all libraries are given a chance to build up credits.

Each time we check with a prospective lender, a notation is made on the interlibrary loan form indicating the library's name and response. If "yes," arrangements are made for pickup. If "no," the search goes on. "Maybe" takes a little longer; although the item is in the catalog, the shelf must be checked to see if the volume is available for loan or photocopying.

When a loan is arranged, the clerk prepares the interlibrary loan forms (still intact) for the driver. Having begun her run in the morning, delivering books and copies picked up the previous day, the driver returns to the LILRC office in the early afternoon with that day's deliveries and pickups. The driver collects the day's batch of slips and prepares her itinerary for the next day.

Copies of the interlibrary loan form are used as follows:

SerialsBooks

white Sent to lending library pink

yellow Inserted into each book delivered yellow to borrowing library or clipped to copy of article

pink Filed by name of borrowing library white in LILRC circulation file, used for statistics, then filed

gold Returned to borrowing library with gold bill unless retained by library before submitting request to LILRC

If an item is not located at a member library, the request is considered for transmission to the State Library in Albany and the NYSILL network or to the Regional Medical Library network. Certain categories of requests may be submitted to the State Library but are not normally eligible for transmission to NYSILL, such as: fiction, text books, current publications and those in popular demand, rare books, genealogy, children's books, multi-volume sets, reference books, non-research books (self-help, recreation, etc.). Interlibrary loan librarians should familiarize themselves with the NYSILL manual (see Appendix A) so they will know what to expect when we send requests to NYSILL for them.

Each day, the requests not located on Long Island are teletyped to the State Library in Albany. If available, the book or copy will be sent from the State Library or the library to which it has been referred, directly to the requesting library whose name and address have been coded into the NYSILL transmission format. Medically-oriented requests are sent to the Regional Medical Library network via the Medical Research Library in Brooklyn and may be sent to the requesting library directly or via LILRC.

If the item is not available from any of these sources, a report is teletyped to LILRC and we send it on to the requesting library.

Billing

Bills are sent quarterly unless a library asks that it be billed monthly or semi-annually, or annually as part of the dues. The gold copy (part 4) of the interlibrary loan form is included with the bill unless a library retains it when initiating the request or indicates the copy need not be returned.

Cancellations

Occasionally, libraries find it necessary to cancel a request. It is understood that if the item is in the process of being supplied the requesting library will be charged for the completed loan.

Delivery and pickup

The Council drivers stop at each library which has a pickup or delivery to be made (public libraries send materials to LILRC via their respective systems). While the drivers stop nearly every day at the heaviest users, we do not know you have something for us unless you let us know. If you are supplying a monograph or photocopy, or have a book to return, call and tell us.

Microforms

INS tries to obtain needed items in a form usable in the borrowing library. If the supplying library cannot produce a hard copy of a microform it is lending, and if your library does not have an appropriate reader, we will try to have a copy made (if there is an additional charge you will be notified in advance) or tell you where your patron can read or copy the material himself.

Photocopies of missing pages

Missing pages from monographs and serials may be requested in the usual manner. For an additional fee, INS will try to obtain copies suitable for binding, printed on both sides.

Recall

It is understood that the lending library may recall a book needed for one of its own readers.

Renewals

Please request a renewal before the date due noted on the request form or in the volume. For books received from LILRC member libraries, call the LILRC office and give author, title, date due, library from which borrowed. Renewals will usually be granted for two weeks from date due unless a lending library has indicated otherwise.

Books received from the State Library or through NYSILL or the Regional Medical Library must be renewed directly with the lending library, not LILRC.

Returns

Books received from LILRC should be returned via our driver. Call and let us know you have a book to be returned.

Books received from the State Library or through NYSILL or the Regional Medical Library should be mailed directly to the lending library. The book usually arrives with a return label. The package in which it comes will give information regarding return address and insurance.

Status reports

Requests are processed and reports submitted to the requesting library as rapidly as possible. It is not always possible to give an immediate report on the status of an outstanding request in the process of being searched at a member library. Please hold requests for status reports to a minimum.

Guide to the use of LILRC Interlibrary Loan Request Forms

The number of interlibrary loan requests received by LILRC is steadily increasing. In order to process the requests efficiently we ask that requests be submitted either on the LILRC interlibrary loan request form or via teletype.

Please do not send requests on lists or in other formats. Telephone requests can be accepted only for a limited number of urgent requests.

Use the "book" request form for all monographs, reports, whole volumes of proceedings, transactions, congresses, etc.

Use "serials" request form for all articles from periodicals, papers from transactions, proceedings or congresses, and for chapters or other sections of books.

Please use LILRC interlibrary loan request forms only for requests sent to LILRC.

1. Date of request. Fill in date you are submitting your request to LILRC.

2. Your request #. Libraries submitting many interlibrary loan requests often number the requests consecutively each month. Thus, "10-59" would indicate the fifty-ninth request Library X submitted to LILRC during October. Libraries making fewer requests may number consecutively through the year or may choose to omit a number.

3. Dewey No. Supply 3-digit Dewey number wherever known. This is necessary for requests submitted to NYSILL so they can be referred to appropriate subject referral library. Verification will often give Dewey number, usually supplied with LC cataloging in NUC and NST.

4. Requesting library. Name of institution submitting request. Since delivery is through LILRC driver, full mailing address is not needed.

5. Name of library user for whom request is being made. Some libraries file pending requests by name of user. Also helpful in identifying request if there is a question while it is being processed.

7. Serial. Name of periodical in which needed article appears. Give name of journal as it appears in the Nassau-Suffolk Union list of Serials, Union List of Serials 3rd ed., New Serials Titles, or other standard bibliographic source. Do not use abbreviations. If not verified, give name of journal as fully as you have been able to find it.

8. Vol./issue. Indicate volume number of periodical, and issue number if known. If serial has dates but no volume number, leave space blank.

9. Date of issue in which needed article appears.

10. Pages on which article appears. If complete pagination is not known, add "+" or "to end of article" after number of beginning page, so that the person copying the article will look for a continuation and not copy only the single page cited.

11. Author of article required, including first name(s). If more than one author, give full names of two, and indicate "and others."

12. Title of article requested.

13. Verification. Please supply verification of both name of the journal and of the existence of the article in this issue of the journal cited. Standard sources for journals include union lists mentioned in #7 above. Articles can be verified in standard periodical indexes and abstracting services such as Reader's Guide, Education Index, Psychological Abstracts, Engineering Index, etc. Give full citation including volume, series, year/date, page, abstract number of verification. If request could not be verified, indicate sources checked.

If not possible to verify, indicate source of reference, such as bibliography in monograph, review article, etc. Where did the requestor see this item in print? Include author, title, publisher and date or journal title and date, and page number on which citation is found. If it is more convenient, you may supply a photocopy of the cited reference.

If impossible to verify or supply a source of reference, indicate "zz."

For LILRC use only

14. Records information regarding request forwarded to LILRC member or NYSILL or RML and awaiting response.

15. Indicates whether item has been found and delivered or request cancelled.

16. Checked to indicate by NUC symbol libraries believed to have needed item, on the basis of the Nassau-Suffolk Union List of Serials.

17. Records date due of book to be returned. Left blank in cases where photocopy has been supplied; photocopy becomes the property of the user.

1. Date of request. Fill in date you are submitting your request to LILRC.

2. Your request #. Libraries submitting many interlibrary loan requests often number the requests consecutively each month. Thus, "10-59" would indicate the fifty-ninth request Library X submitted to LILRC during October. Libraries making fewer requests may number consecutively through the year or may choose to omit a number.

3. Dewey No. Supply three-digit Dewey number wherever known. This is necessary for requests submitted to NYSILL so they can be referred to appropriate subject referral libraries. Verification will often give Dewey number, usually supplied with LC cataloging in NUC and NST.

4. Requesting library. Name of institution submitting request. Since delivery is through the LILRC driver, full mailing address is not needed.

5. User. Name of library user for whom request is being made. Some libraries file pending requests by name of user. Also helpful in identifying request if there is a question while it is being processed.

7. Author. Give full name of author of monograph. Give last name, followed by first name(s). Give full name wherever possible, not initials. If more than one author, give full names of two authors, and write "and others" if there are more. If author is a corporate body, give name as fully and accurately as possible.

8. Title. Give full title of book. If title is excessively long, it may be shortened after giving first several words exactly and filling space allotted with remaining key words.

9. Place. City of publication. } are acceptable. } } Indicate in this space if other 10. Name of publisher. } editions are acceptable. } 11. Date of publication. }

12. Verification. Please supply verification of all information given, particularly main entry. Preferred source is National Union Catalog, followed by CBI. Books in Print is not an adequate verification since information there is often inaccurate or incomplete. Give full reference to volume, series, date, page of verification. If request could not be verified, indicate sources checked, as in: NUC 1968-72-0; CBI 1971-0.

If it is not possible to verify the author and title, indicate sources of reference such as bibliography in a monograph, review article, etc. Where did the requestor see this item in print? Supply author, title, publisher and date or journal title and date, and page number on which citation is found. If it is more convenient you may supply a photocopy of the cited reference.

If impossible to verify or supply a source of reference, indicate "zz."

For LILRC use only

13. Records information regarding request forwarded to LILRC member or NYSILL or RML and awaiting response.

14. Indicates whether item has been found and delivered or request cancelled.

15. Checked to indicate by NUC symbol libraries believed to have needed item, on the basis of the data bank of library card catalogs in microfilm or telephone confirmation.

16. Records date due of book to be returned. Left blank in cases where photocopy has been supplied; photocopy becomes the property of the user.

How to be a good borrower:

Educate your readers. Explain that some materials may not be available on interlibrary loan, that requests may take time to fill, that renewals may not always be granted.

Encourage your readers to take full notes of bibliographic sources and references, to supply all necessary data, to fill out a work sheet for each request.

Return materials promptly. If a renewal is necessary, ask for it before the date due. If a book is lost, notify the Council and pay the bill promptly. Your library is responsible for all books it borrows on interlibrary loan. Books received through NYSILL should be returned directly to the lending library, not to LILRC.

Limit the number of items you request on behalf of any reader at one time. Materials on a given subject should not be monopolized by one patron in the region, and deadlines and due dates must be honored.

Notify us when you have a book to be returned.

How to be a good lender:

Answer promptly and courteously when you receive a teletype message, telephone call or typed forms by mail or courier. The library you supply today may supply you tomorrow.

Reciprocity is the key word.

Please say "yes" only when you are prepared to supply the photocopy or volume quickly. If you cannot fill a request, let us know promptly so that we may try to locate the item elsewhere. It is not fair to keep any library's patron waiting. A quick "No" is preferable to a drawn out "Maybe."

Notify us when you have an item ready for us to pick up.

Have items ready for pickup at the designated spot when the driver arrives.

Identify all photocopies with our request number (if given) and the title and issue of the journal from which they are made.

New York State Education Department. New York State Interlibrary Loan Network. NYSILL Manual, 1970. Copies available upon request: State Education Department, Division of Library Development, Albany, NY 12224.